My Watcher crack theory (SPOILER WARNING)

[bobgonal gaming]

Just to note, I already typed this in a discussion, but its currently buried under other comments so I reposted it here.
What are your thoughts? Am I onto something or am I on something?

I think that the Watcher takes place in a different timeline from the Rivulet's (late game) and Saint's. The reincarnation lore suggests that a creature's cycle restarts when they die (they wake up in the same place they woke up before they died). But we can still watch the timeline where the slugcat died before exiting, hinting that the timeline where the slugcat died still continues without them. Watcher's differences from the Saint's regions could be explained if it happened in a timeline where the rot thrives instead of receding into brother long legs after the collapse of Five Pebbles. This could happen if the rot exploited the remaining energy of Five Pebbles' rarefaction cell in a timeline where Rivulet died before reaching Five Pebbles and retrieving the cell. According to the Rain World wiki, the rarefaction cell can distort space which would explain how the rot reached Outer Rim before the Watcher infects it. The rarefaction cell would also likely give the rot more energy to grow much quicker. The rot's use of the rarefaction cell would also explain the less colder climate of the infected regions, as the enhanced growth of the rot (which is humid) caused a more humid and (according to the echo) a smellier environment. So my theory is that there are two main timelines: the Watcher campaign, and the Saint's. The Saint happens in a timeline where the Rivulet succeeds in removing the rarefaction cell from Pebbles. The Watcher happens in a timeline where the Rivulet dies before reaching The Rot (region), therefore letting the rot access the rarefaction cell and enhancing its growth rate, abilities and preventing the climate from getting colder. Both timelines diverge at whether the Rivulet dies before obtaining the rarefaction cell or succeeds in doing so. This would also explain the inconsistencies between The Watcher and late game Downpour.

[guyaoun]

I'm fairly certain watcher and downpour are just different canons

[weester9]

no, the rot that five pebbles has isn't primo rot. primo rot is the perpetually purple (healthy) rot in watcher, but five pebbles's rot is blue. differences in saint regions still work since you could argue that saint is in the super future but watcher is in the super SUPER future. my working theory is that the reason the rot starts spreading in all timelines according to ao is because of the watcher. the watcher is moving into distant timelines which get rotten because of outer rim. i think that the primo rot originated in outer rim, and the reason it spreads is because of the watcher in the second ending. in other words, the rot is using the watcher to assimilate all timelines into one, and saint is on a timeline where that just hasn't happened yet. i like how they took the rot from a "oh, it's a metaphor for cancer that also works as a symbol of how pride can destroy someone" into a lovecraftian threat that is literally going to eliminate death, ascension, and the cycle as a whole.

[benis wenis]

eeeerrm ackshually. watcher is pre-hunter. also pebbles is definitely still alive at the start of the campaign. the timeline is really weird & the watcher hops timelines a lot and im not sure if pebbles is alive when you're in outer rim & stuff but the start of the campaign is not in the future and the rotting regions are due to the rot squeezing through the gaps caused by spinning top (the echo child) in watcher's strand of reality

[pure randomness]

Originally posted by benis wenis:

eeeerrm ackshually. watcher is pre-hunter. also pebbles is definitely still alive at the start of the campaign. the timeline is really weird & the watcher hops timelines a lot and im not sure if pebbles is alive when you're in outer rim & stuff but the start of the campaign is not in the future and the rotting regions are due to the rot squeezing through the gaps caused by spinning top (the echo child) in watcher's strand of reality

wait, has it been comfirmed?

[RCMidas]

If we cross-reference with Downpour as the only other source of information on how regions change across time, then Pebbles is still alive at the start of Watcher by virtue of the starting regions being unchanged - after that, it's anyone's guess when it comes to the timelines. The spreading of the Rot across regions and times is pretty much confirmed to be Watcher's fault, in that it can only happen when Watcher warps.

Watcher being specifically pre-Hunter is up in the air. They could be post-Monk for all we know. It's pure speculation at the moment as to when Watcher begins their journey. We can really only guess based on the unusual presence of Rot at several locations that blocks the normal further progress.